Mutuals
by howwasthefun-vee
Summary: Tony had been getting more and more worried about Peter. He seemed distant. He was determined to get to the bottom of it.


Tony had been getting more and more concerned as the days went by. Peter, his sweet little Spider-ling was normally a very happy teenager but recently seemed to constantly be scowling at his phone or laptop or tablet. Peter used to glow whenever Tony offered to take him to the workshop to Science (with a capital S) but now, Peter would just nod distractedly, hardly even glancing up from his screen.

"In a bit Tony. I've just got to finish this one thing."

"Give me a sec Tony, just taking care of something."

"Maybe later Tony. This is really important."

Tony knew he was reading too much into this, but he couldn't help but feel worried. Was Peter getting tired of him? He knew that it took a special type of person to deal with Tony for long periods of time. Was Peter just humoring the old, lonely man who only had 3 friends? Maybe Peter was in some sort of trouble and trying to hide it. Tony looked to where Peter was sitting on the couch across from Tony. They were both on laptops, Tony designing an update to the StarkPhone and Peter doing whatever he did now. Tony couldn't deny that he was concerned for his (son) protege. Whenever Tony asked what the teenager was doing on his device, Peter shied away, avoiding an actual answer.

"It's nothing Mr. Stark, don't worry about it."

"It's just a silly thing for school. It's fine."

"Just on the internet, no big deal Tony."

He knew Peter would never come to him for help with something of actual consequence. Maybe Peter was being cyberbullied. That happened, right? Tony knew that Peter already dealt with problems at school, so it wasn't that far of a stretch.

Tony's eyes narrowed and he turned his attention back to his designs. He had a plan.

As soon as Peter stood up to use the bathroom or get a snack, Tony waited until the boy was out of sight before dashing across the room and looking at the laptop screen. He paused.

Tumblr? Wasn't that some nerdy social media site? What could Peter possibly be doing here? Tony glanced around surreptitiously before grabbing Peter's laptop and clicking around the website. He moved the cursor up to what appeared to be the profile icon and clicked it.

" _tonystarkismydad_? What kind of url is that?" He let out a laugh before shaking his head and clicked on the posts button. The screen was flooded with posts, all about him. "What." Every single post was defending him against something a reporter had said, a tweet had said, or even someone else on this Tumblr website. Tony could feel a lump start to form in his throat. Is this what Peter had been doing with his time recently?

A shriek sounded from the kitchen, causing Tony's head to jerk up. " _What are you doing Tony?"_ Peter whisper-yelled. Tony immediately felt guilty. He shouldn't have looked at Peter's laptop without his permission. What kind of example was he setting? Tony shot Peter an uncomfortable smile.

"Just looking?" Peter raced over and looked at the screen before reaching up and tugging at his hair. He let out a strange noise that sounded like screaming, but his mouth stayed shut.

" _Why were you looking?_ " Tony shrugged helplessly.

"I was worried about you. You've been different lately, more irritable and spending all your time on your laptop…" Tony paused. "Not that I really have a leg to stand on there, but nonetheless." Peter didn't say anything for a long while. Tony started to shift. He set the laptop on the couch behind him and went to stand up.

"You're not mad, are you?" Tony froze. He turned to Peter with his eyebrow quirked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Peter- Why would I be mad? Shouldn't you be the one angry with me?" Peter shrugged.

"I mean, I have a Tumblr dedicated to fighting people who don't like you. That's kinda weird." Tony went to speak, but closed his mouth. He tilted his head to the right and nodded thoughtfully.

"I mean, yeah. It is a little weird, but I think it's kinda cute." Peter made a face and Tony laughed. "Now you need to show me how Tumblr works." Peter groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"This is how I die. Is this what it feels like when your parent finds your Tumblr?"

* * *

Peter looked up when he heard Tony let out a small snort of disbelief. Tony was looking at his laptop screen and typing furiously, his eyes narrowed.

"Hey Tony, what are you doing?" Tony scowled at the screen.

"Fighting people on the internet." Peter glanced around in confusion.

"What about?"

"Things." Ok, now Tony was being purposefully vague. Peter turned back to what he was doing, which was browsing Tumblr because he still had no life and people needed to understand that Tony was the best Avenger. His eyes widened when his dash loaded. One of his mutuals had reblogged a post defending _Spider-Man._ He didn't think he was cool enough yet to get tumblr posts just about him. Peter clicked on the blog that had made the post, and looked at the url. spider-manismyson. Huh. Peter started to scroll, seeing dozens of posts defending Spider-Man and compilations of things Spider-Man had done.

Peter's eyes narrowed when he saw a post about Spider-Man helping a lost woman through the streets of New York and being rewarded with a churro. He laughed and looked at Tony, who was still angrily typing.

"Hey Tony?" Tony hummed distractedly. "The things you're fighting with people on the internet… They wouldn't have anything to do with Spider-Man would they?" Tony glanced up guiltily which was enough answer for Peter, who started laughing. " _Your url is spider-manismyson!"_ Tony glared unhappily.

" _Well your's is tonystarkismydad!"_ Peter grinned.

"We gotta be mutuals." Tony closed his eyes and looked to the ceiling, but followed Peter anyway. Peter whooped and quickly followed Tony back. Tony groaned and closed his laptop lid, picking up his phone. Peter's phone dinged with a notification and Peter glanced at Tony before checking.

 **Tony Stark**

 _IamIronMan_

Did you know Spider-Man has a Tumblr because he does and I'm exposing him

Peter shrieked and lunged at Tony.

Tony went down laughing.


End file.
